ngbiao Qi

Push-Pull Type Oligo(N-annulated perylene)quinodimethanes: Chain Length and Solvent-Dependent Ground States and Physical Properties.

Research on stable open-shell singlet diradicaloids recently became a hot topic because of their unique optical, electronic, and magnetic properties and promising applications in materials science. So far, most reported singlet diradicaloid molecules have a symmetric structure, while asymmetric diradicaloids with an additional contribution of a dipolar zwitterionic form to the ground state were rarely studied. In this Article, a series of new push-pull type oligo(N-annulated perylene)quinodimethanes were synthesized. Their chain length and solvent-dependent ground states and physical properties were systematically investigated by various experimental methods such as steady-state and transient absorption, two-photon absorption, X-ray crystallographic analysis, electron spin resonance, superconducting quantum interference device, Raman spectroscopy, and electrochemistry. It was found that with extension of the chain length, the diradical character increases while the contribution of the zwitterionic form to the ground state becomes smaller. Because of the intramolecular charge transfer character, the physical properties of this push-pull system showed solvent dependence. In addition, density functional theory calculations on the diradical character and Hirshfeld charge were conducted to understand the chain length and solvent dependence of both symmetric and asymmetric systems. Our studies provided a comprehensive understanding on the fundamental structure- and environment-property relationships in the new asymmetric diradicaloid systems.

Toward Tetraradicaloid: The Effect of Fusion Mode on Radical Character and Chemical Reactivity

Open-shell singlet diradicaloids display unique electronic, nonlinear optical, and magnetic activity and could become novel molecular materials for organic electronics, photonics, and spintronics. However, design and synthesis of diradicaloids with a significant polyradical character is a challenging task for chemists. In this Article, we report our efforts toward a tetraradicaloid system. A series of potential tetraradicaloids by fusion of two p-quinodimethane (p-QDM) units with naphthalene or benzene rings in different modes were synthesized. Their model compounds containing one p-QDM moiety were also prepared and compared. Their ground-state structures, physical properties, and chemical reactivity were systematically investigated by various experimental methods such as steady-state and transient absorption, two-photon absorption, X-ray crystallographic analysis, electron spin resonance, superconducting quantum interference device, and electrochemistry, assisted by density functional theory calculations. It was found that their diradical and tetraradical characters show a clear dependence on the fusion mode. Upon the introduction of more five-membered rings, the diradical characters greatly decrease. This difference can be explained by the pro-aromaticity/antiaromaticity of the molecules as well as the intramolecular charge transfer. Our comprehensive studies provide a guideline for the design and synthesis of stable open-shell singlet polycyclic hydrocarbons with significant polyradical characters.

N-Annulated Perylene-Based Push–Pull-Type Sensitizers

Alkoxy-wrapped N-annulated perylene (NP) was synthesized and used as a rigid and coplanar π-linker for three push-pull type metal-free sensitizers QB1-QB3. Their optical and electrochemical properties were tuned by varying the structure of acceptor. These new dyes were applied in Co(II)/(III) based dye-sensitized solar cells, and power conversion efficiency up to 6.95% was achieved, indicating that NP could be used as a new building block for the design of high-performance sensitizers in the future.

N-Annulated perylene substituted zinc–porphyrins with different linking modes and electron acceptors for dye sensitized solar cells

Three new N-annulated perylene (NP) substituted porphyrin dyes WW-7–WW-9 with different linking modes and accepting groups were synthesized and applied in Co(II)/(III) based dye sensitized solar cells (DSCs). The bay-linked porphyrins WW-7 and WW-8 exhibited moderate power conversion efficiency (PCE = 4.4% and 4.8%, respectively), while the peri-linked porphyrin dye WW-9 showed a PCE up to 9.2% which is slightly lower than that of our reference dye WW-6. Detailed physical measurements (optical and electrochemical), DFT calculations, and photovoltaic characterizations were performed to understand how the structural changes affect their light-harvesting ability, molecular orbital profile, energy level alignment, and eventually the photovoltaic performance. It turned out that the lower efficiencies of the cells based on WW-7 and WW-8 could be ascribed to the weak π-conjugation between the bay-substituted NP and phenylethynyl substituted porphyrin unit. The introduction of a benzothiadiazole acceptor at the anchoring group has induced a significant red shift of the IPCE action spectra of WW-8 and WW-9, by about 90 nm and 50 nm as compared to that of WW-7 and WW-6, respectively. However, less efficient electron injection was observed. Our studies gave some insight into the important role of electronic interactions between different components when one designs a dye for high-efficiency DSCs.

N-annulated perylene-substituted and fused porphyrin dimers with intense near-infrared one-photon and two-photon absorption.

Fusion of two N-annulated perylene (NP) units with a fused porphyrin dimer along the S0-S1 electronic transition moment axis has resulted in new near-infrared (NIR) dyes 1 a/1 b with very intense absorption (ε>1.3×10(5) M(-1) cm(-1)) beyond 1250 nm. Both compounds displayed moderate NIR fluorescence with fluorescence quantum yields of 4.4×10(-6) and 6.0×10(-6) for 1 a and 1 b, respectively. The NP-substituted porphyrin dimers 2 a/2 b have also been obtained by controlled oxidative coupling and cyclodehydrogenation, and they showed superimposed absorptions of the fused porphyrin dimer and the NP chromophore. The excited-state dynamics of all of these compounds have been studied by femtosecond transient absorption measurements, which revealed porphyrin dimer-like behaviour. These new chromophores also exhibited good nonlinear optical susceptibility with large two-photon absorption cross-sections in the NIR region due to extended π-conjugation. Time-dependent density functional theory calculations have been performed to aid our understanding of their electronic structures and absorption spectra.

N-Annulated perylene as a donor in cyclopentadithiophene based sensitizers: the effect of the linking mode

Two types of cyclopentadithiophene dyes with different linking modes with an N-annulated perylene (NP) donor were designed and synthesized. These new dyes were applied in Co(II)/(III) based dye-sensitized solar cells and an efficiency up to 7.8% could be obtained for peri-NP linked CPD-1. The effect of the linking mode on the material properties and device performance was discussed.

Ambient Stable Radical Cations, Diradicaloid π-Dimeric Dications, Closed-Shell Dications, and Diradical Dications of Methylthio-Capped Rylenes

Radical cations and dications of π-conjugated systems play vital roles in organic electronic devices, organic conductors, and conducting polymers. Their structures, charge and spin distribution, and mechanism of charge transport are of great interest. In this article, radical cations and dications of a series of newly synthesized methylthio-capped rylenes were synthesized and isolated. Their ground-state structures, physical properties, and solid-state packing were systematically investigated by various experimental methods, such as X-ray crystallographic analysis, UV/Vis/NIR absorption spectroscopy, (spectro-)electrochemistry, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, electron spin resonance spectroscopy, superconducting quantum interference device, and Raman spectroscopy, assisted by DFT calculations. It was found that all the charged species show an exceptional stability under ambient air and light conditions due to the efficient spin and charge delocalization over the whole rylene backbone. The dication of hexarylene turned out to have an unusual open-shell singlet rather than closed-shell ground state, thus it can be described as a diradical dication. Dimerization was observed for the radical cations and even the dications in crystals due to the strong intermolecular antiferromagnetic spin-spin interaction and π-π interaction, which result in unique magnetic properties. Such intermolecular association was also observed in solution.

Push–pull type alkoxy-wrapped N-annulated perylenes for dye-sensitized solar cells

Three push–pull type, alkoxy-wrapped N-annulated perylene based sensitizers with different electron-accepting moieties were designed and synthesized. All the three dyes exhibited broad and intense absorption in the visible region. Co(II)/(III) based dye-sensitized solar cells showed overall power conversion efficiencies up to 8.38% for QB5 under the 100 mW cm−2, simulated AM1.5G sunlight. The detailed optical, electrochemical, photovoltaic measurements and theoretic calculations were conducted and discussed to understand the relationship between the structure and properties.